Japan's 7 Deadly Sins

 In Japan in the early years of the 21st century, such neologisms as nyū puā (new poor) and wākingu puā (working poor) began appearing in the Japanese media. Like their equivalents overseas, the terms were typically applied to people unable to realize a decent livelihood while holding down a job, or even more than one job. Then at some point, when the condition of puā was no longer trendy, the native word, hinkon (poverty), began taking precedence. When written out in kanji characters, hinkon somehow carries with it weightier and more ominous implications.

The so-called poverty line, which in Japan was set at ¥1.22 million in 2012, a figure that represents half the median household disposable income for that particular year. In terms of “relative poverty” — defined as lacking the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they live — the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked Japan, with 16.1 percent of households, fourth overall among member nations, after Mexico (18.5 percent), Turkey (17.5 percent) and the United States (17 percent). More disturbing, perhaps, Japan’s child poverty rate (the ratio of children under 18 living in households earning less than half of the average income), at 16.3 percent, exceeded the relative poverty rate for the first time since statistics began in 1985.

Roughly 8 out of 10 households receiving seikatsu hogo (welfare payments) fall into three major categories: the elderly (45.5 percent), single mothers (7.1 percent) and the infirm and handicapped (29.3 percent). The Cabinet Office estimated in 2010 that Japan has approximately 700,000 individuals suffering from hikikomori (acute social withdrawal).

While some working people resent welfare recipients and accuse them of abusing the system, the payouts hardly qualify as extravagant. One recipient, a man in his 60s, was quoted in a television broadcast as saying, “After the rent and other expenditures are covered, I’m left with about ¥1,000 per day, sufficient for three meals and maybe a used paperback book.” In 2009, Takashi Kadokura, a prolific writer on the subject of Japan’s underground economy, published a 206-page paperback titled “Hinkon Bijinesu” (the poverty business), which examined businesses such as realtors that specialize in apartments that don’t require “key money” and Internet cafes where “refugees” who cannot afford better housing spend the night. While it was recently announced that the number of jobs has increased in Japan, factors affecting poverty include societal problems such as crushing household debt and caring for one's elderly parents.

Spa! a weekly magazine with a fairly good record of tracking social trends, has begun devoting regular coverage to the topic of poverty. One such article was “Seven deadly sins that are the cause of new-type poverty.” The “seven deadly sins” identified were:

1) companies’ hiring of a higher percentage of non-regular staff;

2) job changes that result in a sharp reduction in earnings;

3) the spread of “black companies” (generally defined as businesses that fail to comply with legal labor standards, such as by demanding unpaid overtime);

4) increased incidence of depression; 

5) the burdens of caring for one’s elderly parents;

6) crushing household debts from home mortgages and outlays for children’s education;

7) the growing number of people who reach middle age with virtually no prospects of marrying.

“Oya kurō suru, ko raku suru, mago kojiki suru” (“The parent works hard, the child takes it easy and the grandchild begs”). It bears a remarkable similarity to the saying "rags to riches to rags in three generations".

About 124 million people, 24.8 per cent of the EU population, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. A Eurostat report published last week revealed that non-EU citizens are twice as likely to be at risk of poverty in the 28-nation bloc. 48.7 per cent of those at risk of poverty are non-EU citizens, compared to 22.8 per cent of EU citizens. President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said €1 trillion were lost in tax evasion. "Inequality threatens the foundations of our democracy.” he said. 

China has identified tens of thousands of impoverished villages with 92 million people living in poverty. That is people below China's one USD a day formula but the numbers could scale up to 200 million if World Bank's standard of USD 1.25 a day is employed.